


East of the Sun

by TheGoblinLibrarian



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: East of the Sun and West of the Moon - Freeform, East of the Sun and West of the Moon Elements, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fae & Fairies, Fairy Tale Elements, Fairy Tale Retellings, Fantasy, Polar Bears - Freeform, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 14:53:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29761296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGoblinLibrarian/pseuds/TheGoblinLibrarian
Summary: In the end, it always came down to Toby, didn’t it? She would do anything for her brother — she was the Champion of the Labyrinth for a reason after all. Her eyes fell squarely on the white bear’s.“Yes.”***Years after her journey through the Labyrinth, Sarah is met with a white bear coming to her to make a deal. Sarah knows better than to make deals with magical creatures, but temptation is a ripe peach in her hand, and she always takes a bite.
Relationships: Jareth & Sarah Williams, Jareth/Sarah Williams
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	East of the Sun

The first time she saw the white bear, Sarah was walking home from a party late at night, drunk out of her mind. She swayed toward her house, extremely unsteady on her feet, when she saw the bear sitting on her lawn. She stopped, blinking slowly. Even in her inebriated state, she knew that stumbling upon a white bear in the middle of her front lawn was decidedly Not Normal; Polar bears didn’t come this far south, and even if they did, it was far from desirable to have one milling about a residential area. 

“What are you doing here?” She asked, words slurring slightly. 

Of course being a bear, it did not say anything, though given the circumstances, Sarah would not have been terribly surprised if it had. 

Sarah hummed, considering her options. Short of any good ideas, she did the only thing that came to mind: ignore it and just go home. She gave the bear a wide berth, partially out of a sense of self-preservation but mostly because she was struggling to walk in a straight line, and reached her front door seemingly without invoking any reaction from the bear. After unlocking the door, she glanced behind her to get one last look at the bear, but the creature was gone. She drummed her fingers nervously against the doorknob. Should she call animal control? Would they even believe her? Probably not. She went inside, quietly shutting the door behind her, and went straight to her bedroom, collapsing in bed without bothering to change or even take off her shoes. 

The next morning, as she lay in bed, head pounding, she wondered, Could he be behind the bear? The thought sat like coal in her throat. Could the goblin king really be after her? What did he have to gain? Was he after Toby? She frowned, rolled over, and burrowed herself more deeply into her covers. It had been years since she had heard from her friends, longer still since her journey in the Labyrinth. It seemed highly unlikely that Jareth had sent the white bear, but if he wasn’t behind it, who was?

————————

The bear didn’t appear again until years later. Sarah hadn’t forgotten about it at that point, but she didn’t give it much thought anymore. She was more concerned about passing her classes and getting her degree. 

“Sarah, do you have to go back to college?” Toby played with a few blades of grass. Sarah had decided to take him out that day to her favorite park. In high school, she had spent many an afternoon re-enacting scenes from her favorite books. Now, she liked to bring Toby out to get some fresh air in the shade 

She smiled, “Yes, Toby, I do. But I only have one more year, and I’ll probably move back home at least for a little while afterward.”

Toby wrinkled his nose. “I wish you could stay forever.” 

Sarah ruffled his hair. “Sorry bud. But before you know it, you’ll be off to college too.” 

He looked at her skeptically. “I’m going to stay a kid forever.” 

Sarah laughed. “I used to say the same thing, but I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that.” 

Toby, letting out a big harrumph, left her to follow a particularly large beetle. 

“Don’t go too far away,” she called after him. 

“I won’t.”

She laid back in the grass, still smiling at Toby’s antics, and stared up at the clouds peeking through the branches of the tree above her. He really was a cute kid, all dimples and laughter. She sometimes had trouble believing she had really wished him away. After her journey through the Labyrinth, Sarah had become fiercely protective of Toby. The first few nights after the ordeal, she had been unable to sleep, terrified that the goblins were going to come again in the middle of the night and steal him away. Eventually, the constant terror faded, but the protectiveness remained. She would do anything for that kid. 

Speaking of which, where was he? He had been chasing after that beetle longer than she had expected. She sat up, cursing herself for taking her eyes off of him. “Toby? Where are you?” 

“I’m over here!” His voice came from a copse of trees not too far off from where she was sitting, but much further than she would’ve liked. 

She got onto her feet and headed towards his voice. “What are you doing? I told not to go to far a-” She cut herself off. The white bear was standing amongst the trees and Toby was petting the creature with a single, dirt stained hand. 

“Look, I made a friend!” Sarah watched as the bear snorted in Toby’s face and butted his hand with his snout. Toby scratched the bear’s head. “Isn’t he pretty?” 

“Toby,” Sarah said carefully, heart thudding, “could you slowly come over here?” 

He frowned, “Why?” 

Sarah mirrored his frown. Why? Why? What kind of question was that? It was a bear. Her heart pounded in her chest. She needed Toby to listen to her without panicking but she had no idea how to do that when she was panicking herself. 

Before she could respond, the bear huffed directly into Toby’s face, eliciting a laugh from the small boy, and ambled off into the woods, eventually vanishing from view. 

“Bye!” Toby called after it. 

As soon as the bear was out of sight, Sarah rushed over to Toby and pulled him into a tight hug. Her heart continued to race, adrenaline like a speeding train in her system. “Sarah, you’re crushing me” Toby whined. Sarah sighed and let go of him. “Why are you acting so weird? I’m hungry, let’s go home.” 

“Okay.” Sarah took his hand despite his complaints that he was too old for that, and shakily went back home with her baby brother, now even more uncertain about what to make of the white bear. 

————————

The third time Sarah saw the white bear, it spoke to her. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for joining me on this journey! I'm looking to post a new chapter at the end of each month, so tune back in at the end of March for chapter 2!
> 
> A brief preview:  
> There was something in the middle of the road, several feet ahead of her. She frowned. It looked to be the size of the large car, but even with the dense snowfall she could tell that it wasn’t the right shape. It looked like an animal of some sort. And it wasn’t getting out of the way. She pushed down on the brake, but the car continued to slide forward. Even snow tires can hydroplane apparently. Fuck.


End file.
